T(h)rash of the Orient Reviews

F.T.U.N. left me with an ambiguous feeling, as the compositions were simply too close to what Soulfly and Sepultura had offered on their album and the vague suspicion that some ideas had been recycled by the Syrian band could not be shaken off. The similarities are still there on T(h)rash of the Orient, but the band attempts to move out of the shadows of their archetypes a bit and progresses into a new direction by webbing elements from the Arabian music into their own compositions.

A facet that has remained the same is the performance by the vocalist, whose voice still reminds on Max Cavalera. Maybe this is just a strange coincidence, but it leaves the listener nevertheless perplexed about what is going on here. Presumably, I am not too nit-picky here, because the vocals are performed quite well and work actually fine with the music.

Generally speaking, the approach of combining thrash with groove metal is still present, but some additional facets have been woven into it. Not only did the band use Arabian instruments for this record -- an Oud and a Derbakke --, but also some riffs show some reference to the band's cultural background, which is nice and makes the music more interesting. Through this it is lifted from the suspected copycat-approach to something more independent respectively an identity; yet this progression is still in its children's shoes and further effort is needed in order to bring it on a new level. In comparison with F.T.U.N. demo, the songs have gained in complexity and additional arrangements, while loosing a bit of the catchiness; there is more to explore now and whole approach has more depth now.

Yet, some amount of shallowness is still apparent and especially the lyrics could use some further elaboration. Maybe these kinds of simplistic and minimalist writings is generally used in this particular field of the music scene, but at least for my tastes, the quality is not as such as to fascinate me entirely. Beyond this aspect reminds me the composition Borderline a bit on Lick the Droppings from the preceding demo. Again, the Soulfly and Sepultura references hang over this release like a burden and again the question arouses whether not some ideas had been recycled in one way or another.

Well, let us describe this as a step in the right direction, but the overall quality is still wanting. Even though the compositions are listenable and certainly interesting, the aspects discussed in the paragraph above still need to be considered when in terms of the quality of the performance. So, the band has still some work to do, but they have at least shown a path which they might progress on in the future and this leaves hope for the future. ... See More